Chinese held various activities to celebrate the New Year on Sunday, as a prelude to the coming Lunar New Year on Jan. 29.

 

On New Year's Eve, locals and overseas Chinese in Beijing rang ancient bronze bells and beat drums at the Bell Tower and Drum Tower, or Zhong Lou and Gu Lou, to usher in the New Year.

 

The traditional bells and drums, rested at the two towers first built in 1272, were used in the old times to inform the capital citizenry of time and announced curfews.

 

The capital city decided to ring the bells and beat the drums in concert for 108 times on New Year's Eve and Lunar New Year's Eve from 2000 on.

 

Before the dawn, about 20,000 people had braved the cold and crowded at the Tian'anmen Square in Beijing to watch the national flag raising.

 

Many cherished their own wishes for the country when watching the flag raised high. "I wish our country would work hard to improve people's life in the new year," said Kang Miao, a student from Zhongshan University in Guangdong Province.

 

"The government waived agricultural tax for our peasants in the past year. I hope it would continue such measures and do more for the peasants in the coming year," said 76-year-old Zhou Jiakui,a peasant from Jinan, capital of east China's Shandong Province.

 

Shopping malls were crowded with people on the New Year Day and those dog-related goods became especially popular since the new year is a Dog's Year in Chinese lunar calendar.

 

Toys, greeting cards, bags and many other goods mostly bear dog images. Even the pet dogs are especially pampered by their loving owners for the coming new year.

 

Pet shop owners already stuffed their shelves with special commodities for dogs before the New Year Day, including festival clothes, cookies and vitamins.

 

"Dogs are born loyal and intimate to humankind. My pet dog keeps me company that I take it as my child. I'm taking it to a pet hospital and award it with a decent shower, a haircut and a manicure for the New Year," said 65-year-old Xu Dejiu, a citizen living in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province.

 

Some migrant workers started heading home from various cities where they worked, since the Lunar New Year Day befalls closely after the New Year, a little earlier than the average date in the previous years.

 

Many railway stations have set up special boarding passages for the conveniences of the migrant workers.

 

In Hong Kong, a dozen of public events were held on Sunday, continuing the mass New Year celebration activities with more than half of locals believing in a better prospect in 2006.

 

On the morning on the first day of the new year, a record-high number of 2,500 civilians participated in an annual New Year swimming champaign across the Repulse Bay on the southern side of the Hong Kong Island.

 

A four-year-old boy and an 88-year-old man were also believed to set new record for participating ages for the event with a 30-year history.

 

Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend various public New Year activities organized ranging from horse racing, shopping exhibition to a book fair and a sound and light show across the city's symbolic Victory Harbor.

 

Sunday's celebration activities continued to push higher the city's festival atmosphere already strong in the previous night, when some half million people reportedly headed to several sites in the city to welcome the New Year.

 

Restaurants around the city also report good business on the New Year's Eve, with tables booked with higher prices, while retailers expect more customers in the two-day festival.

 

Many people in Hong Kong have chosen to spend the New Year holidays traveling. A total of 310,326 people left Hong Kong through different checkpoints on Saturday, according to data provided by the Immigration Department.

 

High festival atmosphere was also reported during the Christmas holiday just a week ago, when more than 200,000 people went out to Victory Harbor for the sound and light show on the Christmas Eve and around 800,000 civilians shopped at an annual products exhibition on the next day.

 

The total number of people traveling through Hong Kong checkpoints during the two festivals period, from December 21 to 31, has reached 6.52 million, higher than the authorities' estimate of 6.12 million.

 

Many believe that Hong Kong people's high spirit in the festival season is rooted in the city's robust economic performance in 2005.

 

"This year's (2005) economic growth is the strongest in eight years for Hong Kong,...and the prospect for 2006 is expected to maintain the same momentum," said a commentary published by Wen Wei Po, a local Chinese daily.

 

"In terms of overall economic situation, civilians' spirit and festival atmosphere, this year (2005) is much better than last year," said the newspaper.

 

The government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) in November uplifted its economic growth forecast for the year 2005 by two percentage points.

 

With a continuous economic expansion of 8.2 percent from June to September, the government said the GDP growth for 2005 will be 7 percent, higher than the original projection of 4.5-5.5 percent.

 

The point of view that locals felt good in 2005 is also been proved by polls conducted among Hong Kong people.

 

More than half people, 56.64 percent of some 1,386 interviewees, said they felt happier in 2005 than in 2004, according to a survey by the Chinese newspaper Ming Pao.

 

The same poll also showed that more than half people believe that both their personal life and Hong Kong's overall prospect will be better in 2006.

 

The other survey conducted by an international agency showed that one third of Hong Kong people believe the economy of 2006 will outgrow that of last year, reported the local radio station HKRT.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 2, 2006)